Sue demands action on MPs expenses from speaker

1.45.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 18th May 2009

Local Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate, Sue Doughty, has written to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, to force the full publication of all MPs expenses immediately.

And if he fails to do so, she has called on Speaker Martin to resign.

Sue is one of 56 Liberal Democrat candidates who have signed an open letter demanding this urgent action. The campaigners are also calling on the Speaker to accept the independent review of MPs expenses and salaries chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly.

Sue, who helped organise the letter, says "Like many Guildford residents from all backgrounds, I am totally disgusted by the expenses scandals. The Speaker should be letting in fresh air and the light of public scrutiny to MPs expenses. Instead he has tried to block publication and has snubbed principled MPs who wanted the truth to come out. He must either clean up his act or resign. As a former MP it was always clear to me that the system was far too lax, but the reality is that if you respect taxpayers, you will do the right thing.

Liberal Democrats have long called for reforms to parliamentary expenses, but these have been blocked by vested interests. Just last year, an unholy alliance of Labour and Tory MPs, including voted down proposals to tighten up MPs' expenses and allowances.

The plans would have introduced independent external audit of MPs' expenses and cut the receipt threshold from £25 to zero so that all claims, however small, would have had to be backed by receipts.

Sue says, "MPs have been complacent for far too long; voters are angry and disgusted with the lot of them. We need action from the top to sort this mess out. If the Speaker will not act, he must resign."

Related Link:

Open letter to speaker on MPs expenses.